ESPN doubles down by expanding MegaCasts to NFL playoffs

ESPN's MegaCast treatment during College Football Playoff is among ir most ambitious productions during year. network is doubling down though by expanding it to NFL playoffs.

Sunday's NFL wild-card game between Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans begins first of two straight days of MegaCasts. Monday's matchup between Alabama and Ohio State will receive immersive treatment for seventh straight year.

Stephanie Druley, ESPN's executive vice president for event and studio production, said MegaCasts allow ESPN to expand ir audience while serving as a testing lab for different production elements. It has also allowed m to identify future commentators during ir “Film Room” broadcasts.

However, doing two “MegaCasts” in less than 36 hours creates plenty of production challenges.

“ biggest challenge would have been if both games were in same stadium. second biggest is what we ended up with,” Druley said. “We have our best people on both games. ESPN does a lot and people expect that. You look at bulk of what is going on and it is incredible.”

NFL game — which will have a MegaCast for first time — will see cover across six Disney networks. traditional broadcast will be simulcast on ESPN and ABC with a Spanish-langu feed on ESPN Deportes. ESPN2 will do “Film Room” and Freeform will air a watch party, featuring a halftime performance by DJ Khaled.

Freeform broadcast is similar to watch party that aired on ESPN2 during New Orleans-Las Vegas Monday night game this season.

All three of Sunday’s playoff games are getting some sort of extra treatment. Besides MegaCast, 4:40 p.m. EST game between Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints on CBS will be simulcast on Nickelodeon and be geared toward kids. 8:15 p.m. nightcap between Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers on NBC will also air on Telemundo and stream on Peacock.

MegaCast might have also played a reason in why ESPN finally got a Sunday playoff game. This is seventh year it had a wild-card game, but past six have been Saturday early game, usually weakest matchup.

“To have a Sunday 1 p.m. game is great. It points to power of NFL more than anything. With six wild-card games (compared to four in previous years) it is a different dynamic,” said Ilan Ben-Hanan, ESPN's senior vice president for programming and acquisitions. “Because of our experience in alternate broadcasts NFL has been pleased with what we have been able to do.”

One of more intriguing feeds will be from “NFL Live” crew, which will be on both days. Sunday's broadcast on ESPN+ streaming service will feature a mix of analytics and gambling information from “Daily Wr” show.

y will n appear on ESPN2 Monday. That broadcast will include analytics as well as NFL draft projections.

Marcus Spears said a couple practice broadcasts were done last month to get used to pacing and assessing strengths of “NFL Live” crew..

“I'm looking forward to camaraderie. re are some things we disagree on but it is a good way for everyone to see how we watch football during a game,” he said.

Monday's MegaCast includes six ESPN networks and six additional presentations on ESPN app. One element that will t be included this year is “ Homers Telecast," which paired one of ESPN's anuncers with a former player. y would call game from sideline.

Druley said ESPN usually has 1,100 people credentialed for title game, but that is down to about 400 this year because of pandemic.

BIG WEEK FOR ESPN+

Besides MegaCasts, ESPN+ will debut two studio shows on Monday. “SportsNation” returns after being on hiatus since August 2018 while Stephen A. Smith gets his own show with "Stephen A’s World."

“SportsNation”, which will feature Ashley Brewer, Treavor Scales and Taylor Twellman, will air at 9:30 a.m. EST. Smith's show will be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights.

ESPN+, which debuted in 2018, currently has 11.5 million subscribers.

“With launches of se shows and adding our audio programs last year, we been able to expand aperture and scope of content we have,” said John Lasker, ESPN's vice president of digital media programming. “We started with shows serving specific audiences but have started to add more studio content that serves various needs.”